NEW YORK CITY -- A Greyhound bus bound for New York City had to pull over and evacuate Friday because it was infested with roaches that dropped from the ceiling and skittered across seats and the floor, terrorizing riders.

Mothers tried to shield their children and riders jumped into the aisle of the bus as roaches bolted out of cracks and crevices, seemingly all at once, about 15 minutes after the 10 a.m. ET bus left Atlantic City, passengers told NBC 4 New York.

"All of a sudden the roaches came out of nowhere, they were on the floor, they were falling from the ceiling," said Andy Rodriguez, a passenger.

Tracy Harmon told NBC 4 New York that "people were shrieking and shaking roaches off."

"It was terrible," she said.

The bus was carrying 48 people and an unknown number of roaches, according to Greyhound.